ELEANOR HALL: Australia’s federal Trade Minister, Mark Vaile,
is leaving Washington today empty-handed. The much touted US-Australia
free trade deal is, at least for now, going nowhere. The Minister hopes
the delay is temporary and he says the Bush administration is probably
considering American domestic politics before it announces a beginning
to the talks. This report from our North America correspondent, Tim
Lester, who went along to the Minister’s press conference in Washington.

TIM LESTER: Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, came to Washington
expecting very little. In that sense, he read Washington well. The first
sign of the difficulties the Bush administration has talking trade with
Australia right now came yesterday. Trade representative, Robert Zoellick,
on the eve of his talks with Minister Vaile, notified Congress of new
trade negotiations with six countries—Australia was not among them.
But that, insists Mr Vaile, was to be expected.

MARK VAILE: You will see that there is a consistency in the
order of countries that have been identified as prospective and possible
bilateral FTA partners, and it seems to me that the administration is
following fairly well along that consistent outline of the countries
that they identify.

TIM LESTER: So Australia’s turn is coming. Well, if so, the
Bush administration is saying nothing about it. For Washington, a trade
deal down under involves opening American agriculture to powerful competition,
and the agricultural lobby here has already turned up the heat on the
administration with little more than a month to go before mid-term elections.
So when the President’s trade representative met our Trade Minister,
today, there were no public commitments on a timetable for talks.

MARK VAILE: The timing is now a matter for the administration.
I’ve made it very, very clear that we are ready and capable to begin
as soon as we possibly can.

TIM LESTER: Minister, what has Mr Zoellick told you about that?
It is a question you surely had to put to the trade representative.
What has he said about the timing of the US involvement on this?

MARK VAILE: In general terms, we can certainly identify with
the broader time frame but he also reminds me and also as he has said
publicly in terms of working within the domestic environment here, in
the United States, and I understand that. I am a politician. I am a
politician from Australia. I know what it is like to work in a politically
charged environment, and you’ve got to balance that.

TIM LESTER: That means nothing before 5 November, presumably?

MARK VAILE: I wouldn’t concur with that. That means that
when it is the best timing for the administration, they may move.

TIM LESTER: But what about Australia’s record as a staunch
US ally, especially as the Bush administration battles world opinion
over its stance on Iraq? It was American journalists that raised the
issue of trade’s connection to security with Minister Vaile.

MARK VAILE: We don’t deny that we are the closest of allies
and in any discussion between any American and any Australian it is
top of mind, particularly at the moment, and that is very, very important.
And it doesn’t need to be said, in that regard. But certainly in terms
of our ambitions, economically and in a trade sense, we believe that
our case stands on the merits of the case.

TIM LESTER: But for all its merit, the case isn’t strong
enough to stand in spite of US politics. The Minister’s visit here
has added to the sense that pressure from the American agriculture lobby
has done its job for now. The free trade talks will have to wait for
a less sensitive time.